Hugo D. Have you heard of his classic trick question? I think at this point, millions of people have heard it and even had some arguments over it. “Someone’s mother has four sons; three are named North, East, and West. What’s the name of the fourth son?” is such a classic trick question that people not only know about it, but some of them also have their own version and answer for it. Let’s talk more about this age-old question.
Now read the question carefully, “someone’s mother has four sons; three are named North, East, and West. What’s the name of the fourth son?” Now the question would be “Can u guess the name of the fourth son?”. So can you take a guess of what’s the answer would be? The answer would be Yes or No, so don’t let the question fool you. This is just another version of this tricky question, yet a very succesdful one. You know you are smarter than this.
Why is the question popular?
This viral riddle was made popular thanks to Facebook. Some people shared it on the online social media platform, and it went viral not long after that. Although, to be honest with you, I am not sure how long this riddle has been circulating on Facebook or the whole internet.
Some people also made some variations like, “If you got the answer wrong, you must post an embarrassing picture of yourself, and then post the riddle on your page.” As you may have already guessed, most people got the answer wrong. I think most people would think that the answer to this riddle is West. But you will know why the answer could be wrong if you take a deeper look into the question itself.
The most accurate answer based on ongoing discussions
So according to the question, you should focus on the line “Someone’s mother has….” And then you can focus on the rest of the question. From this, you can take a guess of the name of the fourth son. As you can see, the name of the fourth son is “Someone.” Because if you take a look deeper into the question, it says “Someone’s mother.” I know it can be confusing as the sentence is made to look and feel ambiguous. But that’s the part of the quiz.
But there is another angle to look at the question. As you can see, there are three names that the question clearly indicates: North, East, and West. These are common names, too. So if you look at it this way, you can take a guess that the fourth son’s name is South. These names refer to the four cardinal directions: south, north, west, and east. Learning about these cardinal directions is very useful for people who love traveling and going on adventures. This skill will also help you read maps and determine where you should be going to reach your destination.
And finally, there is one more way of looking at the question, as mentioned above. The way the question is phrased could indicate that the answers can only be either yes or no. If you look at it this way, it doesn’t matter what the name of the fourth son, you only need to answer yes or no. So let’s say you don’t know the name of the fourth son, then you answer no. Because you don’t know the name, it is logical to say no instead of yes.
There is another version to this riddle, check this out: “Someone’s mother has four sons. North, South, and East. What is the name of the fourth son.” As you see, there is no question mark at the end of the riddle. This implies that the answer is “What.”
Choosing the best answer
So which answer is the best, you wonder? Well, either one of these answers above can be the best one depending on how you look or perceive the question. But it seems like more people agree on the “Someone” answer.
So the name of the fourth son is already revealed on the question itself. All you need to be aware of is what it is and understand why it is a tricky question. Now, you can explain the answer to your friends after you let gave them think of the answer themselves.
